sack it, melt down all the buildings and then use a diplomat to gift it back to the owners for a re-sacking a few years later =P.

what I wish you could do is a real raid outside settlements... kind of like the devastation but with $$$ gain... maybe allowing you to convert advanced farms, roads and ports to cash, but leaving them at the first level after spending 2 turns on them.

I will add this to my wish list of things for M3TW
-Raids
-Hostages - held indefinitely and used in diplomacy(pay a ransom to get them back, use them to exchange for peace, or ai held hostages)
-Inquisitions - It would be nice to make inquisitors that kill off other religion's priests ( As Spain, I want to drive those Moorish Imams into the sea or purify them with flame... As Egypt, I want my Imams whipping the faithful into a murderous band to drive out the infidel christian priests who are causing unrest).
-Multipart sieges for huge cities. The first stage could be the storming of the outer walls and taking a portion of the city. The next stages would be taking different sections of the city and the citadel or city square. Taking Constantinople, Rome, Milan, Cairo, etc should be a massive undertaking imo.
-"Slaughter Delegation" option during diplomatic screen =P. More for RP, but it would put an end to that accursed diplomat who demands "Become a Vassal" every turn even though he his people have lost all but one or two provinces to you.
- Elephants with freaking laser's on their heads.